LOCAL TENNIS

Courier, U.S. Davis Cup Team Returns to Florida in February

Published: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 at 9:00 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 at 9:00 p.m.

Good news. A Davis Cup event is coming to Florida.

The first round match between the United States and Brazil will be Feb. 1-3 in Jacksonville.

This is a great chance to cheer on the United States and see some terrific tennis with a team captained by Dade City native Jim Courier with promising youngsters such as John Isner, Ryan Harrison and Sam Querrey.

The U.S. leads the series 3-1, and the U.S. is undefeated in Florida.

The matches are set for the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, which seats 13,000. Tickets go on sale in December.

USTA members can purchase tickets in the presale. You should receive information in the mail about the event.

For more information, call the U.S. Davis Cup hotline at 888-484-8782 or visit www.usta.com.

UF Defeats Fla. Gulf Coast

The University of Florida club tennis team won the FSU Capital Challenge during the Oct. 6 weekend in Tallahassee.

The Gators downed Florida Gulf Coast 30-10 to win the Gold bracket.

The next event is the West Coast Invite on Saturday in Tampa at Hillsborough Community College.

Lake Wales Competes

The Lake Wales Country Club mixed tennis teams still have one more shot to send a team to the national championships.

While the 6.0 and 8.0 adult teams did not advance out of their flights two weeks ago at the state tournament, Lake Wales has one more team headed to the states.

Captain Aubrey Whitaker takes his senior mixed 8.0 team to Daytona the weekend of Nov. 2-3 for a chance to advance to the big show.

Whitaker and his wife, Judy, along with Tom Austin, Jerry Miller, Cal Bowen, Bettye Sykes, Laura Motis and Susie McGill, won the local title to advance to the state event.

Locals in Autumn Rookie

Charles Gardner of Lakeland led a contigent of several Polk County players in the Autumn Rookie tournament during the weekend at Fort Gatlin in Orlando.

More than a dozen local players competed in the event.

Gardner was unseeded and won four matches to win the title. He downed top-seeded Nicolas Loret de Mola of Lakeland 8-3 in the semis. He topped second-seeded Avaneesh Kunta 8-4 in the final.

Adam Bailey of Lakeland won the boys' age 12 consolation title. Bailey defeated Lewis Leonard 8-5 in the final.

Holt Russell of Lakeland reached the boys' 14 consolation final. He fell to Saurav Russell 8-3 in the final.

Evan Gonzalez of Lakeland won the boys' 18 final over Anthony Reina 6-4, 6-4. They were the only two in the division.

Aneesha Khatri of Lakeland reached the girls' age 12 final, but had to withdraw because of an emergency.

Tedlin Lach of Lakeland won the girls' age 16 title with an 8-3 victory over Elizabeth Heckbert.

Auburndale Doubles

Here are the results from the Auburndale Doubles tournament during the weekend at the Hummel Tennis Center.

<p>Good news. A Davis Cup event is coming to Florida.</p><p>The first round match between the United States and Brazil will be Feb. 1-3 in Jacksonville.</p><p>This is a great chance to cheer on the United States and see some terrific tennis with a team captained by Dade City native Jim Courier with promising youngsters such as John Isner, Ryan Harrison and Sam Querrey.</p><p>The U.S. leads the series 3-1, and the U.S. is undefeated in Florida.</p><p>The matches are set for the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, which seats 13,000. Tickets go on sale in December.</p><p>USTA members can purchase tickets in the presale. You should receive information in the mail about the event.</p><p>For more information, call the U.S. Davis Cup hotline at 888-484-8782 or visit www.usta.com.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>UF Defeats Fla. Gulf Coast</strong></p><p>The University of Florida club tennis team won the FSU Capital Challenge during the Oct. 6 weekend in Tallahassee.</p><p>The Gators downed Florida Gulf Coast 30-10 to win the Gold bracket.</p><p>The next event is the West Coast Invite on Saturday in Tampa at Hillsborough Community College.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Lake Wales Competes</strong></p><p>The Lake Wales Country Club mixed tennis teams still have one more shot to send a team to the national championships.</p><p>While the 6.0 and 8.0 adult teams did not advance out of their flights two weeks ago at the state tournament, Lake Wales has one more team headed to the states.</p><p>Captain Aubrey Whitaker takes his senior mixed 8.0 team to Daytona the weekend of Nov. 2-3 for a chance to advance to the big show.</p><p>Whitaker and his wife, Judy, along with Tom Austin, Jerry Miller, Cal Bowen, Bettye Sykes, Laura Motis and Susie McGill, won the local title to advance to the state event.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Locals in Autumn Rookie</strong></p><p>Charles Gardner of Lakeland led a contigent of several Polk County players in the Autumn Rookie tournament during the weekend at Fort Gatlin in Orlando.</p><p>More than a dozen local players competed in the event.</p><p>Gardner was unseeded and won four matches to win the title. He downed top-seeded Nicolas Loret de Mola of Lakeland 8-3 in the semis. He topped second-seeded Avaneesh Kunta 8-4 in the final.</p><p>Adam Bailey of Lakeland won the boys' age 12 consolation title. Bailey defeated Lewis Leonard 8-5 in the final.</p><p>Holt Russell of Lakeland reached the boys' 14 consolation final. He fell to Saurav Russell 8-3 in the final.</p><p>Evan Gonzalez of Lakeland won the boys' 18 final over Anthony Reina 6-4, 6-4. They were the only two in the division.</p><p>Aneesha Khatri of Lakeland reached the girls' age 12 final, but had to withdraw because of an emergency.</p><p>Tedlin Lach of Lakeland won the girls' age 16 title with an 8-3 victory over Elizabeth Heckbert.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Auburndale Doubles</strong></p><p>Here are the results from the Auburndale Doubles tournament during the weekend at the Hummel Tennis Center.</p><p>Women's A: Linda Ramka/Dolores Littlejohn def. Kandy Wood/June Tyre 6-1, 6-1.</p><p>Men's A: David Saltman/Cory Logan def. Ken Mckinnon/Al Holden 6-1, 6-3.</p><p>Men's B: Logan Allen/Richard Green def. Tony Powell/ Josh Gerstoff 6-0, 6-0.</p><p>Mixed A: David Saltman/Denise Saltman def. Ken Mckinnon/Carol Mahler 6-0, 6-2.</p><p>Mixed B: Matt McManus/Linda Ramka def. Howard Marshall/Penny Keiter 6-0, 6-3.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>[ Lisa Coffey can be reached at lisa.coffey@theledger.com or 863-401-6971, or by fax at 863-401-6999. Follow her on Twitter: @LedgerLisa, or see her blog at lisasleisuretime.blogs.theledger.com. ]</p>